Statement by the Board Chair of the Global Partnership for Education

During its meeting in Oslo, Norway from June 14 to 15, 2016, the GPE Board of Directors made substantial progress with the operational and technical preparations needed to meet the ambition of GPE 2020, the new strategic plan for 2016 to 2020, which directly supports the Global Goal for education.

To deliver on GPE 2020, the Board endorsed:

• Improvements to GPE’s operational and funding model to strengthen GPE’s capacity to contribute to learning and equity outcomes.
• A monitoring & evaluation strategy to track progress and ensure mutual accountability for results.
• A knowledge and good practice exchange strategy to build local capacity and identify innovative solutions to longstanding educational challenges.
• An ambitious approach to design a financing and funding framework to mobilize additional resources necessary to deliver on GPE 2020.
• A gender equality policy, strategy and action plan to implement the commitment to gender equality across the partnership.

The Board also approved $147 million in new grants to improve education in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Malawi and the four Caribbean island states of Dominica, Grenada, St. Lucia, and St. Vincent and the Grenadines, the first to be approved under GPE 2020.

GPE is committed to the success of Education Cannot Wait, the new fund and platform for education in emergencies and protracted crises, which was launched at the World Humanitarian Summit on May 23, 2016. GPE also reiterates its commitment to global efforts and the Global Coalition to Protect Education from Attack, in preventing attacks on schools, universities, their students and staff.

Finally, I welcome the Board’s decision to re-appoint Alice Albright, CEO of the GPE Secretariat, for a further three years. GPE is united to deliver GPE 2020 and the Global Goal for a quality education for all.